A Whole New World? Ofsted Meeting with Mike Cladingbowl

“Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.” Ben Franklin

“A whole new world … a new fantastic point of view…” Nothing like a bit of Aladdin to start your day! It’s not a whole new world yet but I believe the view is changing. 

No doubt, you will have read many of the excellent blogs about the meetings in London and Manchester with Mike Cladingbowl (@mcladingbowl), Ofsted’s personable National Director for Inspection Reform. Here are links to some of the posts so far 

• @heymisssmith
• @emmaannhardy
• @primaryhead1
• @leadinglearner
• @mishwood1
• @jordyjax

I’m not going to recount too much of the conversation from the meeting I attended as colleagues have already accurately reported events. For me, it’s about relationships and bravery.

 

Relationships

 

Mike was very keen to promote the personal relationship agenda – both from the point of view of the curriculum and from the behaviour of inspection teams and schools. 

 

Inspections have become too complicated and Mike is working on the personal development aspect at the moment which is something he sees as key and I agree totally. All too often we hear of ‘relationship’ issues between schools and inspection teams and there are numerous posts circulating about the whims of rogue inspectors. Moving forward, it has to be about effective conversations between team and school and also within a team too. The message was clear that Mike and other colleagues are taking steps to deal with poor inspectors and inspections. He returned to his key theme that it’s about people – their behaviour, their integrity and their judgement. This also led to confirmation that they were ‘shifting their thinking’ about the training of inspectors – both practically and philosophically too. I look forward to hearing more about this over the coming year as they bring inspector training in house from Sept 2015. However, I have recent experience of this ‘shift’ – clearly reinforcing that inspection is not about personal preferences but the exercising of professional judgement within the context of the school. I recently attended HMI-led Inspection training and was heartened that our first discussion was not about this or that line in the framework but focused on professional judgement – what it is and what it means. There are a number of definitions out there relating to professional judgement but I’m going to use this as an example similar in content to the one we were shown:

 

Professional judgment is a process used to reach a well-reasoned conclusion that is based on the relevant facts and circumstances available at the time of the conclusion. A fundamental part of the process is the involvement of individuals with sufficient knowledge and experience. Professional judgment involves the identification, without bias, of reasonable alternatives; therefore, careful and objective consideration of information that may seem contradictory to a conclusion is key to its application. In addition, both professional scepticism and objectivity are essential to the process and to reaching an appropriate conclusion.

 

Guy Moore, Senior Advisory Partner for Professional Practice,
Deloitte & Touche LLP 2009

 

 Mmm… Inspections which:

• are based on relevant facts and circumstances at the time (and over time)
• are carried out by individuals with sufficient knowledge and experience (and training)
• consider carefully and objectively all of the information available (without bias)

Many inspections are already carried out in a professional and focused manner but whilst inspectors should strive to be beyond reproach, it will take time for the new systems to become established – this must not lead to schools being penalised in the meantime though. The key messages are getting out there 

It was encouraging to hear talk about widening the view of inspections rather than just the narrow focus on En and Ma – although they will remain key and important. Mike was clear that there is greater readiness to say Ofsted should look more widely than simply En and Ma but added that achieving consensus on moving forward could be difficult! However, I felt reassured that Mike was looking for greater balance to be achieved and for the discussion to turn more towards the ‘why’ you are doing something not ticking boxes against some ‘what Ofsted wants’ checklist.

 

Bravery 

 

In his speech to the NAHT Conference in May 2013, Russell Hobby stated that ‘I believe Sir Michael Wilshaw when he says there is no model lesson, but it is a brave school leader who takes this to heart, when there is no way of knowing whether the team which turns up on your doorstop will have read that bit of the guidelines. Or taught in the sort of school you lead. Or even taught.’

 

Consistency between inspection teams and Ofsted / ISPs ability to quality assure their work have always been at the heart of my concerns with Ofsted. However, more recently, through professional experience, it’s clear that some of our colleagues, who are Senior Leaders, need to refocus their attention away from the mythical list as to what Ofsted wants or an over reliance on ‘Mocksteds’ and return to focusing on the needs of their own school. Being brave when the Ofsted team walks through the door is probably the wrong word. Maybe it’s just being confident believing in:

 

• Your own data
• Your staff
• The vision for learning you’ve all created and developed

I’m sure this list could go on and on – as could defining whether it’s bravery, confidence or … ?

 

Finally, the outcome from the meeting with @mcladingbowl, if one has to be defined, is the fact that the system is moving – and we should move with it. Whether it’s being brave in the face of inspection or not, it’s time to build and rebuild relationships. 

 

•  Is Mike able to promise that all inspection teams are going to be 100% consistent in the application of the Framework from September 2014? No – but where they’re not he wants to know about it and that voice must be heard.
• Are all schools going to move away from grading individual lessons? Probably not  – but Ofsted has been clear and it’s time for SLTs across the country to review their quality assurance processes and make sure they support developmental improvement rather than isolated, judgemental ratings.

So a ‘new fantastic point of view’? Maybe not fantastic just yet, but I think things are changing for the better. However, change isn’t a one way street and we must all be prepared to take a hard look at our context and our profession to ensure change is manageable and constructive to support great learning.

 

P.S. Having also heard Mike and Sean speak at ResearchEd14 yesterday, it’s pleasing to note that their message remains consistent and open.

 

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